The Mizahar Nail Polish & Beauty Talk Thread

[Gossamer]

I totally can't wait to see what you make. I'll go find some autumn spice and trade yea!

ps.. cute kitten!

[Vanari]

Sounds like a good trade to me Also I just ordered 3 samples of chameleon pigment so we'll see how that goes...hit or miss, only one way to find out!

p.s. thanks, she is a weirdo but she sure looks cute for the camera.

[Gossamer]

JULEP NEWS

For those of you that are Julep Mavens, the Maven Window is now open to pick your monthly boxes.. and man the colors are hard this month because they are all soo good. The Dramatic Collection is sooo pretty! See all the different boxes for details.

I love... love love choices. Ultimately, I think I'm going to skip the cosmetics (though I love them and will try to get them later in one of their sales), which is an option, and take the whole polish set as a unit. I have enough jules points saved up to do that without cost. I don't like the add on - goldie, cause who likes bright yellow glitter when your over the age of 5... okay not me but some people out there do. And though I'm resisting, I drooled a bit over the glitter remover kit, because I just reuse pieces of tin foil on my fingers to get my glitter off and that'd be soooo handy.

Today's Mani: Zoya Dream with Julep Joelle over the top. It's like a holo explosion on my nails. I can't even photograph it because the holo wigged out bigtime and is too sparkly for words.

[Elysium]

Today's Manicure...
Marry by Zoya

As you can imagine, those aren't really my nails. But after hiking a mile downhill in a foot of snow, I'm not feeling terribly active right now. At least it was downhill. Anyway, I am all over that Enchanted Polish sale. All over it. Maybe I'll finally get that bottle of Austin Powers.

I picked Bombshell for my Julep box, though I was really torn between that and Classic With a Twist. Had I the money or the jules, I totally would've taken the whole collection.

As for polish making? Vanari, do you want my address now or later? I am actually looking into start-up costs to do some sort of indie polish making thing myself. It took me twenty straight minutes of searching to even find polish how-to guides that weren't of the DIY variety. I found some awesome frankening websites after a bit of searching, but man. I can't wait to see what you come up with!

And btw, your cat is ADORABLE.

[Vanari]

Today's Mani!
Franken #2

Forgive my sausage fingers...Sooooo, this was a pain in the butt to put on. It seemed to require a whole different technique unto itself because the glitter needed a lot of coaxing and the milky white base sometimes covered up too much. And, the polish consumes topcoat like you would not believe. I swear I put at least 1 coat of Nail Tek III and then 3 coats of Seche on top of that, but it's STILL bumpy. I definitely need to work out the formula, cause it ain't worth the hassle for more than 1 mani.

2/3 Packages came! Glitter...so much glitter...

Indie polish making is definitely very affordable, whether you do it as a personal hobby or explode in popularity and people gobble up your polishes faster than you can crank em out. I kinda went overboard and bought more than I can safely use in a week, but I'd say the real bank account denters are the chameleon and holo pigments. If you (or anyone else) get into using that stuff we can band together and split everything in bulk, so that way it's not so monstrous both in size and cost. Just throwing that out there, I know some ladies do that, though I haven't received my order of chameleon pigments yet so we'll see what it's all about

I also have a LOT of pigments and glitters that came in huge bags. I'd be more than happy to share, though I don't know exactly how to work that out. I can make a wee starter kit in exchange for...hell, I don't know, more polish? Haha.

I'm still tinkering with formulas and such but I will let you all know when I have stuff I feel is remotely good enough to be sent. In the meantime you are free to send me your address whenever you like! I promise I won't stalk you! Some things you'd get in your future package:

-Some frankens
-Some surprise polishes
-Some candy
-Some jewelry

Course if you have any color prefs/allergies/what not let me know and I shall adjust accordingly ^_^ I have more or less every type of polish that exists, except for the gels and sand texture ones. Don't like wearing the same color for more than a few days to merit the costs of gels and the sand ones are just weird (except for 1 that I am lemming). Speaking of lemmings I might have some non-indie ones in my stash so feel free to give me a list!

Haha thanks, she's a handful though. And also kinda...derpy.

Why you cry so much?!

[Gossamer]

Ohhhhh I love Franken #2. That's just so bright and cheerful! I can't wait to see how you do with this. I bet you are going to be amazing. The glitters look astonishing. You need to share some of the franken websites you found. I'd like to get into this but I don't know where to start. I'd love to see closeups of all your glitter packs!

And on another note..

So Truckers in the US have to do this thing to their license where they tie their DOT physical cards to their drivers licenses at the DMV to make sure we are all healthy etc. So I've been trying to get up there for months now and just now got around to it. I went Saturday but they were actually closed.

So... it took me all of FIVE minutes to go do that. No one was there. I just about fainted. And... Ironic as it sounds, the dollar store and Sally's Beauty was right by there. So, naturally saving all that time, I stopped by Sally Beauty and they are having a huge nail polish event. I've was literally there 50 minutes in the checkout line. But yea... china glaze three polish full sized sets for 4.99! Proof! I totally have issues. So... spend a little, get a free tote bag... such a deal.... I went in to see if they got their FP Kaladescpe collection display in yet. They had. And as a bonus, they had Orly's Cosmic FX in, but Black Hole (WANT IT!) was already sold out. Here's the haul.

Orly
Gravity Bound - Dark teal blue shimmer with purple and teal glitter and white large sized round glitters. Way better in person.
Intergalactic Space - Dark Plum glitterbomb with magenta bronze purple black and dark blue glitters and sparse white rounds.

Check out the closeup of the Orly Cosmic FX pair.
I was actually going for Black Hole but it was sold out.
This pic doesn't come close to the omg pretty factor of these polishes.

Finger Paints
Colorful Dream - Kaladescope Collection Flakie Top Coat

China Glaze
Fairy Dust - Holo top Coat/Stand alone
Mingle With Kringle - Metallic Gold Glitter (old gold)
Luxe & Lush - Flakie Top Coat
So Blue Without You - Really gorgeous bright metallic Christmas blue
Bells Will Be Blinging - Blue Glitterbomb with blue, green, gold, silver, pastel, and silver bar glitter in it.

And I got another bottle of Seche Vite. I am almost out. I hate buying them anywhere but ebay, however, the last few on ebay I got had really shitty brushes in them. I'd by the refill but then Id have to buy the thinner because while I use it fast for a bottle - about one a month - it still dries out in the refill before I can use it all up.. so rather than buy refills and thinner, I just get it by the bottle and keep the good brushes.

Today's Mani (same one for the last few days, note the wear marks on the tips from typing). Zoya Dream with Julep Joelle over it. I finally got it to photograph. This is like super holographic. And yes my nails are crappy. The ring and pinkie need trimmed back bad, and the thumb, pointer, and middle need some cuticle work. I'm starting to look like I have two coke fingers.

[Vanari]

Today's One Fingered Mani
Plus the verdict on Franken #2

Thank you for your belief in me Jen! It means a lot, specially since I have zero idea what the heck it is I'm doing. I'm used to the reliable consistency of mixing polishes, not this bizarro, vampiric formula for glitters. The pigments should have a better chance with glossiness but we shall see. This one above is Franken #1, which is a deep teal-ish blue jelly with .004 mm sized green glitter. Super basic, I just wanted to see what the glitter would look like and if it would bleed (and it didn't! hooray!). It's a terrible photo but I was out of reliable sunlight. There's more glitteriness in person and it looks smooth and liquidy with a good top coat. Originally, I had it in a more purple-toned navy (specifically Essie's After School Boy Blazer) but it looked black indoors. So, I added some blue pigment, which for some reason turned it kind of teal...you probably can't see it but it's got a definite greenish quality to it, at least with the first 2 coats. It's a bit swampy but still pretty and shiny and rather magical. Not too intense on the glitter and definitely enough pigment to not look completely black indoors. Good enough for attempt #1!

As for Franken #2, I left it on for almost 5 whole days, which is somewhat of a record for me. It was partly because I liked it, and partly because it was such a huge pain in the ass that I didn't have the heart to destroy my hard work. That being said, all hassle-y ness aside it's a super fun color that is actually really subtle. Very low key for the casual glance, but extra fun on a closer inspection. Perfectly suitable for work and the like without being boring or predictable. I added a tiny bit more white and clear polish so it should be somewhat less leechy, but I think I'll wait a while before I try again, or let someone else do the trying Seriously if you ladies ever want to be my guinea pigs by all means, let me know.

Also, as requested, here are the sites I used to get my supplies: TKB Trading and Glitter Unique

And here is a pic of the various glitters I got. I apologize for my laziness...I didn't get every baggie, but there are just waaaayyyy too many.

I included some other things I use both for nail care and swatches just so we ladies can compare notes. Nfu Oh's cuticle remover is great, though I personally don't see it outperforming ORLY's Cutique. It is a bit less chunky when you put it on, but honestly who cares xD I use the back end of that painbrush to scrape off all the dead stuff cause it lasts way longer than an orangewood stick, which I don't ever seem to have the willpower to go buy more of. And I only use that paintbrush cause I lost my cuticle stick from E.L.F. which, for it's price, is kind of friggin amazing.

Out of all the basecoats/nail treatments I've tried, which are a lot more than I feel comfortable admitting, Nail Tek III has been the only one that seems to do anything at all for me. If you ladies need/want to test out treatments I have SO many I'd be happy to include some in your care package. I also threw in the buffer and glass file cause I know that's what you're SUPPOSED to use, but...yeah I don't use them nearly as often as I should. Lastly, I bought that sample of perfume off evilBay cause I smelled it on my friend....awwww my gaddd it's so wondrous. I might just have to chock up the ridiculous sums to get an actual bottle, cause it literally makes my brain tingle with bliss.

Okay enough about nail care (my lemony flutter is missing cause it expired )onto the good stuff! So in the upper left you can see 3 little containers of velvet flocking. Hopefully I can get a swatch of them soon to test out how well they stick and stay. I tried velvet nails with drug store brands and it was somewhat successful but...not really. Next to that are big bags of pure pigment, with one or two being duochromes. Happy to share, especially with the giant bags cause holy moly how to even put a dent in those? After that are some cool flakies and glitters. The neat thing about Glitter Unique is that they offer pre-mixed bags. I used "Rebel!" for Franken #2 and it was super easy not having to measure out all the proportions by yourself. As a beginner I highly recommend these mixed sets. Quick, easy, fun, and they always look good with a white base

At the very bottom are the multichromatic automotive pigments. They're very tiny for $15 a piece, but I'm crossing my fingers that they'll surprise me. One note of caution for these though: I've read that many of these are super fine and can be dangerous when inhaled, so I'm waiting till I can go home and fetch my very pink, very obnoxious gas mask before I dabble with these just to be safe. Also, funnels are your friends. Seriously, you can do makeshift ones as shown above but they are messy and annoying. You can get cute little funnels on TKB, which by the way has excellent customer service and a whole chart just for glitters that bleed/curl/perform well.

And, of course, those Wet n Wild bottles. I love them. They are easy to get a hold of, super cheap especially if there are sales, the labels come off almost 100% clean, and you can use its contents in everything. I love crellies so those clear polishes are an absolute staple for me. I also have a giant container of BB's, but I keep a smaller tube with me for easy transportation and refill it when I need to. It's funny when you try to buy them at Target or where ever. The girlier you look that day, the more priceless the employee's expression.

Alright, so I'm going to stop here before I ramble on any further.

P.S. That's a gorgeous combo Jen! And I wish my thumbs were as nice...mine look like small elephant feet Which is why they are always conspicuously missing from my pictures. Also, I somehow managed to find Autumn Spice!! If you already got one that's totally cool, I am a firm believer in back ups, or perhaps another lovely Mizaharian would like to try it. You have such cool sales at your Sally's...all the Sally's sales around me are crappy and not really worth a second glance.

P.P.S. AAAAHHH!! Okay I apologize for having lied about stopping a dozen sentences ago, but I just had an idea. What if we designed custom colors for all the mods here, even the guys?!?!

[Gossamer]

Vanari- I literally spent 2 hrs last night staring at glitters and getting my mind blown by duochrome powders. I don't think I can start out working on this hobby. Last time I picked up a hobby via Mizahar I ended up with 200,000 new bees on my property. I can only imagine how my self control would lack on this. So I need to live vicariously through you. I really liked Frankin #1, but #2 was just super cute and charming. I don't like a lot of white nail polish because it washes my skin tone out, but that's just perky and kinda Easter Perfect.

Where do you get your spare bottles? I know ebay has huge lots of them.


ENCHANTED POLISH PRE-ORDER IS IN 1 HR. Don't miss it. They are doing a mystery polish for $16 bucks. You order blind. I'm ordering anyhow. Because we all know what it retails for after you get it and its no longer available. Plus, I haven't seen an Enchanted Polish I haven't drooled over.


Question for our beauty bloggers. It's new eyeliner and mascara time for me. I need to pick up some and I hate getting it at the drug store because the stuff I like is anywhere from $7-$9. I can get lots of it with dozens of the tubes or pencils I want on ebay for $20... but you know, in my lifetime I'll never use the dozens of tubes you get or the dozens of pencils. Do you guys want to do some trading for that kind of stuff too so long as its not opened and new in a package? I'll trade for polish, etc!

Current Mani - bare nails. It's cuticle day and I'm grading in RF so I am doing a thorough mani while I'm working on stuff.. and man oh man my nails are taking a beating this winter. They are all different lengths and some are dry/brittle and some are soft. I've been using Orly's Bonded as underwear but I think I need to switch to Nailtech... though I have no idea if I need II or III since my nails are half and half. Any advice? I was wearing Zoya Black Swan with China Glaze's Lux Flakie over it. Pic below. It took an hour to get off.

My future Mani today will be... something in bright pink probably an Essie since I have some I adore in hot pink.. with my new Stardust Holo Overcoat. I'm really into Holos right now. My butter london order came so I have a lot to choose from, but I will be damned if I'm putting on another flakie overcoat for a week or so. It takes too long to get the darn things off.

Sorry about the cuticle oil all over and the weird shot.
Flakies are hard to film.
My mutant pinkie is getting filed down severely today too.

Mani Routine - I'm pretty boring on my mani routine. I do an undercoat after a thorough scrubbing/sanding/filing and about two to three layers of polish drying between, then a layer or two of seche vite. On day two or three I'll usually add a glitter overcoat or a flakie to spruce it up and touch up the tips... then add another top coat. Day four or five I'll get that polish off and start again. I usually do a cutecle treatment on day 5 or 6. I'll use Sally Hansans Gentle Cuticle Remover.. I really like the tube. But I also use Revlon's..only cause I got a ton of it at Biglots for a dollar a two pack. SH's works a lot better, but Revlon's good for when mine aren't that bad. I did wear the Zoya Black Swan/China Glaze Lux flakie for five days... it was just that pretty.

Sales

Oh and ULTA this week only has 20% off entire orders online and in stores. The code is 101583. They have BOGO 50% on Maybelline and Loreal Products.

I know Sally's has buy a Seche Vite and get a free China Glaze. Note my new bottle of Seche Vite above. I'm a little torqued I got that code the day after I got my Sally haul. But.. I don't know what the code is for the free China Glaze. It was posted in the Julep Swap Group and I know they can probably get it for you again there if your interested - or I can dig it up.

Also, Cutest Polish For Winter Ever... Pointelss Cafe Posted The Snowman From Red Dog Designs today... I went Awwwwww.

[Gossamer]

I should be doing HD tickets, posts for my PC, and all kinds of things.. but I feel like absolute do-do so I'm just surfing. I found this new Julep Crowdfunding Project interesting.

[Gossamer]

Couple of really quick Julep News things...



Two codes for you:

BG74L8U = $5 off a $25 Order (free shipping if your a maven)

bemine = Order $22 bucks worth of polish, get $11 bucks off. This was supposed to be a buy one regularly priced (maven prices mind you) polish and get one free, but if you head over to the savvy deals and last looks before they are retired sale pages, you can get a bazillion polishes (most are $2.99-$4.99) and get half off as long as you spend $22 first (again, free shipping if your a maven).

VALINTINES DAY MYSTERY BOXES!

Yes, there are a lot of nosy gals out there that stalk Julep's site. Some of them stumbled upon a MYSTERY BOX for this month. The Valentines Mystery Box is called Cupid's Box.. so do a site search for cupid! In case you don't know what one is.. its a 'surprise' box you buy for $24.99 that promises to have at least $75 bucks worth of product in them. You get Julep points for buying them that go towards free boxes in the future.

I got the Naughty and Nice Mystery box last time and for $19.99 (the coupon code I gave you above works on these boxes) I got ... its in my scrap totally broken down... somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 bucks worth of polishes and products?

There's three boxes this month... Mavens you don't automatically get these. You have to go on the site and special order them because they aren't part of the monthly subscription.

You get a new polish for each box then at least $75 bucks worth of promised product in the theme of Mani-lovers, Pedi-lovers, or Makeup Lovers. Now... I don't know whether I'll get one of these boxes. Why? I have this weird thing about FEET and foot products.. I pretty much hate feet, don't want anyone's naked cold ugly feet around me... and the one polish I GOTTA HAVE is in the Peti box. Aphrodite is sooooo pretty. They tell you what polish is the main theme for all the boxes. Now I'm tempted on the makeup box because I've skipped all the cosmetic offerings of the last year to go straight polishes for julep and I'd love to get the eyepencils and I'm betting they are in there. The polish lovers one would be cool too. How neat would it be to have themed all pinks and red polishes? But again, I'm not in love with sheer glitter topcoats.. so really ... I'd buy one in a heartbeat if Aphrodite was in one of the other boxes instead of the pedi box or if someone wanted the pedi stuff but didn't want the polish and wanted to swap.

Anyhow.. I'm telling you this before the mystery box announcement. I'm not sure when they are going to announce them being available, and they usually sell out within a few hours of the emails going out. So you can get the jump if you want the jump. As of right now I'm leaning towards the makeup lover's box.. but they all look great (if your into feet - yuk!)

Oh, here's the link to the page that shows the unannounced boxes:

http://www.julep.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=relevance&dir=desc&q=cupid

And you don't have to be a maven to get in on these. It might be a fun way to see if you even like maven stuff by giving one of these a try out.

OHHHH... Mani of the day.

Orly's Beautiful Disaster. This is an epic gorgeous magenta royal purple duochrome. I'm not even supposed to own this color, but I bought the entire Surreal Collection off Ebay for super cheap and the stupid selller sent me the entire Mash-Up collection instead. I'm still waiting to hear back from him as to if I should return them or just demand a refund and if I'm going to get my Surreal Collection after all. Anyone like neon orange? I don't... but the rest of the mashup collection was stunning. Beautiful Disaster and Sparkling Garbage are my favorites. Sparkling garbage is this dusty green jelly packed full of holo. I mean that sucker is so holo that you can't look at your nails in the sun - you'll go holo blind. I had London Butter's Fairy Lights (a metallic pink) on my nails and when the wrong polish came I automatically busted Sparkling Garbage out and layered it on top of Fairy Lights and then top coated it. Holy crap I just about died with pretty overload. I can't drive and wear sparkling garbage if its sunny out. My nails on the steering wheel are too rainbowy distracting. If anyone wants pictures, I can try, but these holo polishes really kill my little sorry droid camera.